Senseless
by Lady Sharp
Summary: Juliet Prescott has never particularly belonged anywhere. All this is about to change when she finds a little girl wandering alone in the Georgian backwoods and returns her to her group.
1. Chance Meeting

[JULIET'S POV – THIRD PERSON]

The anguished scream of pain was almost nonexistent on that warm April morning.

_Almost._

Juliet Prescott stirred; her eyes slowly opened halfway as she stretched her arms and looked down at the ground below. She had secured herself on a branch high in the trees of some forest with bungee cords. It was safer there – walkers couldn't climb trees and she stayed well out of sight, camouflaged by the foliage.

The screaming had since ceased: the poor soul was probably dead, leaving behind an early breakfast for the undead nearby. Juliet liked to think that they went quickly, even though she currently showed no sign of horror or sympathy. It wasn't the first time she had woken to the sound of a walker attack, and it was highly likely it wouldn't be the last.

By now she had released herself from the bungee cords and stored them in her backpack. Grabbing her quiver and longbow, she peered from her perch above and scanned the forest below.

Nothing.

Slowly and carefully, she climbed down until her feet met the solid foundation of the forest floor – dirt and grass, a little damp from the morning dew. The sun was slowly climbing the sky and Juliet pulled a long piece of red cloth from her backpack, tying it around the tree trunk. She then set off down the trail, longbow out as she went to check the snares she had set up the previous night.

However, the rustling of leaves from nearby made her halt. Drawing an arrow and aiming, she turned toward the direction of the disturbance, waiting with baited breath.

[DARYL'S POV – THIRD PERSON]

Daryl Dixon was getting too old for this shit.

Of course, he didn't say that out loud. He had been lucky, as of late. Losing sight of his brother Merle had been difficult, but he had a good group of people to be pulling through the hell hole that was the apocalypse. Besides, it wasn't particularly anyone's fault that Sophia had gone missing.

But goddamn, he was tired of searching left, right and center and coming up empty handed.

That morning had started out as normal – breakfast at sunrise courtesy of Lori and Carol, followed by Rick giving everyone their assignments for the day. Glenn and Maggie were going to make a pharmacy run; Andrea, T Dog and Dale were to switch between keep watch and patrolling the grounds; and Lori and Carol were tending to 'housekeeping', so to speak. That left Rick, Shane and Daryl to patrol the woods nearby, in search of Sophia. Daryl was ready to do everything he could to help find her – even though he wasn't one to show his concern like the others did, he hated seeing Carol in so much agony. She tried to hide it for the sake of everyone else, but it didn't take a genius to see that Sophia's disappearance was tearing her apart.

Crossbow in hand, he followed Rick and Shane into the thicket of trees.

"Daryl, you take the left side while Shane and I head toward the river." Rick's tone was firm without being too pushy, and Daryl nodded as he took off further into the trees. His crossbow remained in his hands, ready to fire at the sign of walkers.

[JULIET'S POV – THIRD PERSON]

The seconds passing by felt like hours, and Juliet was unnerved by the suspense. Heartbeat quickening, her fingers curled tightly around the bowstring as she took a delicate step left to peer around the tree where the sound came from.

Her grip on the string slackened gradually as she withdrew her arrow and returned it to the quiver. She crouched down so that she was eye level with the figure a few feet ahead of her. The girl, no more than twelve, was pressed against the tree with wariness in her eyes that Juliet was familiar with. Her face was dirty, shorts slightly torn, and she was keeping eye contact with Juliet – whether in fear or surprise, she didn't know.

"It's okay," Juliet spoke softly as she held out an open palm to the girl. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl walked forward slowly, and Juliet lowered her palm to take the girl's hand in her own.

"What's your name?" she asked gently.

It took a moment, but the little girl spoke at last. "Sophia."

Juliet smiled. "That's a pretty name. Are you out here by yourself, Sophia?"

She nodded, her dirty blond hair falling in her face.

"Do you have a group?"

Sophia nodded again.

"Do you know where they are?"

She shook her head this time. Juliet frowned slightly, but squeezed Sophia's hand gently.

"I've got an idea. How about you stick with me, and we'll search for them together? Would you like that?"

A small smile crossed Sophia's lips, and she nodded again. "Yes, please."

Juliet smiled in returned and stood up in full. "Come on, let's head this way. I set some traps yesterday and you look hungry."

Sophia nodded, tugging on Juliet's hand. Juliet looked down and frowned gently. "What's wrong?"

"What's your name?" asked Sophia. Juliet smiled.

"I'm Juliet."

[DARYL'S POV – THIRD PERSON]

There was something peaceful about walking alone in the woods. Perhaps it was the part about being alone – that was certainly something Daryl was good at. Not by choice, initially, but there was truth to it. While he didn't mind being part of the group now, he was grateful for the pockets of time he had to himself.

The fact that it was partially because Sophia was missing was something he shoved to the back of his mind.

It had been a half an hour since he had separated from Rick and Shane, and still there was no sign of Sophia. There was also no sign of walkers – something unusual but not unheard of, and certainly not unwelcome.

Lost in thought, he hadn't realized that he had come across a clearing until he had nearly set foot in it. Well concealed by foliage and circled by trees, it was oddly ethereal, so to speak. Flowers were in full bloom – marigolds, cornflowers, and even a Cherokee rose or two.

However, his eyes weren't on the flowers or the shape of the clearing, but rather the plump little rabbit sat in the middle. His fingers closed around an arrow and he loaded it into his crossbow, taking aim.

A second later, an arrow pierced right through the eye of the rabbit.

An arrow that wasn't his.

Slightly startled, Daryl pulled back his crossbow and stood up a little straighter. To his surprise, a young woman walked toward it, slinging her longbow over her shoulder as she knelt down to retrieve her arrow and her target. Her dark hair was braided and pulled back into a ponytail and she seemed quite calm as she placed her arrow back in her quiver and tied the rabbit to her belt.

The surprises didn't seem to stop coming. The brunette turned around and motioned toward the other side of the clearing with her hand. "Come on, you don't want to stray too far, do you?"

Daryl felt his hands tighten around his crossbow the second he saw Sophia enter behind the girl. His throat went dry and yet, relief washed over him. She was still alive, she wasn't hurt – she looked hungry and she was covered in dirt, but she was okay.

Without much thought, Daryl entered the clearing from behind the tree and called out. "Sophia?"

The both girls whipped their heads to look up at the same time – Sophia immediately ran toward Daryl, whereas the brunette reached for her back pocket.

This prompted Daryl to arch a brow at the girl, and she mirrored his actions.

"Sophia, do you know this man?" she asked calmly, her faced composed but her posture rigid.

Daryl shook his head and stepped forward, noting the way the girl's arm tensed up.

"Easy, tiger" he said, finding her wariness a little humorous. "I'm part of her group."

The brunette looked at Sophia, who nodded.

"Sorry," she murmured, withdrawing her hand from her back pocket and relaxing. "You can never be too careful anymore."

"Daryl?" Sophia spoke softly, and Daryl looked down at her.

"Yeah, Sophia?"

Sophia looked toward the brunette, and then back at Daryl. "Can Juliet come with us?"

Juliet looked a little embarrassed as she shook her head. "Oh, I don't need to. I've been on my own for a wh-"

"Sure" said Daryl, cutting her off. "I bet your mom will want to meet her, anyway."

Juliet opened her mouth to protest, but resolutely shut it a moment later. Sophia looked pleased and she had a feeling that Daryl wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You coming?" Daryl's gruff voice brought her out of her thoughts and she nodded, slinging her longbow over her shoulder. Together, the three began walking east in silence.

[JULIET'S POV – THIRD PERSON]

The silence was getting more and more awkward as they walked through the woods. The one good thing was that Daryl didn't mind her stopping to check her snares – by now she had collected two more rabbits.

However, the noon heat was approaching and Juliet could feel her throat running dry. Reaching toward her backpack, she pulled a water bottle out and drank what was left.

It wasn't enough.

"Well, shit" she murmured, then cleared her throat. "Shoot. Well, shoot."

This made Daryl snort as he turned his gaze toward Juliet. "The dead are walking and you're afraid to cuss in front of a kid?"

"I'm not afraid to curse" muttered Juliet, a little irritated as she made eye contact with Daryl. "It's just… improper."

He shook his head, smirking. "You're not having dinner with the President here, girly. Don't have to be proper for our sake. Besides, we got clean water back at the farm."

Juliet's eyebrows shot up. "You have a farm?"

"Not ours" Daryl said. "Some guy named Herschel owns it. Took us all in while he took care of one of our people – we're still there." He scratched the back of his neck as he looked ahead, crossbow still at his side. "Don't know how much longer we're going to be there, but for now it's home."

Juliet nodded, following Daryl and Sophia as they merged onto a dirt path. She could see that the edge of the forest was in sight, which brought a sigh of relief.

It was happily interrupted by two people calling after Daryl, which was enough to make Juliet reach for the knife in her back pocket – though she stopped when she saw Daryl shaking his head out of the corner of her eye.

A man with a slightly peppered beard in a sheriff's shirt walked up to the trio – behind him was a slightly muscular man, his head shaved and an expression of irritation mixed with relief on his face.

"Rick! Shane!" Daryl greeted the two, waving his crossbow as they approached.

"You found Sophia!" The man named Rick looked all but ecstatic as he knelt down and hugged Sophia. Juliet couldn't help but smile.

"And… someone else."

The smile wore off quickly as Juliet met Shane's stare. She felt unsettled by how… well, how _angry_ he looked.

"Hello" she spoke, a little stiff. "I found Sophia this morning, about four miles northwest from here."

Shane looked unimpressed – Juliet looked to Rick, and continued. "I'm Juliet. Juliet Prescott."

"Rick Grimes," spoke the friendlier man. "And this is my partner, Shane."

"Oh, lovely!" said Juliet, smiling. "How long have you two been married?"

It took all of Daryl's self-control to keep his laughter inside, and Juliet turned pink at the realization of what she had just said.

"Right – let's head back to the farm. You can meet my wife and the others."

Juliet nodded, and the group headed toward the edge of the forest. She kept her eyes front and one hand on her longbow, still resting on one shoulder. They were almost out when the snapping of a twig made them stop dead in their tracks.

"Shane, Juliet…" spoke Rick after a moment, drawing out his knife. "Take Sophia back to camp."

Shane opened his mouth to protest, but Rick cut him off. "Please. Just do it."

Juliet had drawn an arrow and pulled back on her bowstring. Daryl's own crossbow was ready to fire.

"Juliet, go back to -"

"With all due respect," Juliet muttered under her breath, "I'm staying."

Rick was about to scold her when a walker came charging at the group. Daryl fired and hit, piercing the walking corpse through the forehead.

"Juliet, follow Shane back to camp. Now."

"Look, Rick," said Juliet as she turned to face the deputy. "I appreciate your concern, but I can handle myself. Alright?"

"If you're going to come into our camp, then you're going to have to -"

He stopped short as Juliet drew her bow at him. His hand had closed around the handle of his pistol as he felt the arrow fly past his head and make a bone-cracking sound a second later. Looking behind him, he saw the body of another walker – freshly undead and almost free of the smell of rotten corpse, with the feathers of an arrow sticking out of its eye socket.

As Juliet walked past to retrieve her arrow, she shot a narrow-eyed look at Rick.

"Looks like the girl can handle herself, eh deputy?" Daryl's voice was dry as he spoke once Juliet was out of earshot.

Rick looked over at Daryl, then back at the girl's shrinking form. "I suppose she can."


	2. Author Note

Hey guys! I hope everyone is having a good Christmas so far!

I'm currently working on chapter two – rest assured I have plenty of ideas for this fic and I'm going to update as often as I can. I just wanted to give a little heads up, as I'm currently on Christmas break from school until mid-January. That being said, I'm working 30+ hour weeks at my job right now, so finding time to write between that and seeing the family isn't the easiest. Don't worry, though – I'll make up for it, I promise.

Happy Holidays!

- Blythe


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